After a long struggle Padmaavat (Padmavati as called before) got a release and even after a longer wait I got a chance to watch it. I know everyone around me including myself am tired of the whole Padmaavat controversy. From the invasion of Karni Sena at the sets of Padmaavat to biding on who would cut Deepika’s nose to Swara Bhaskar’s open letter. There was a lot said and a lot heard.
After so much of debate and discussion I really don’t have anything more to pen down nor I find myself very much eligible to question Sanjay Leela Bhansali or the actress Swara Bhaskar. Because where both are phenomenal artists, I am just a budding writer.
The screenplay, the set, the music was without any doubt splendid. It indeed looked like a Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s movie. The look of Deepika Padukone surely takes away your breath, Ranveer singh’s portrayal of Allaudin Khilzi makes you believe him as a monster and of course, the Rajpootani pride in Shahid Kapoor eyes is uncanny.
I have no right to answer Swara Bhaskar because whatever she said was at some point logical and have been well answered by the people to whom the letter was concerned. But I have few questions to ask her. Starting with, the whole movie talked and celebrated the wisdom that Padmavati had then how did the actress Swara Bhaskar or anyone arrive on the conclusion that it only talked about vaginas? Whatever director Bhansali made is a different issue, but what made anyone believe that Jouhar or self-immolation was nothing but the mass suicide act because they didn’t have rightful owners of their vaginas. Don’t you think it has something do with honour, pride, dignity of a lady and more than that respect for your birth place.
We belong to a nation who’s history has seen Maharani giving precious advice in the matter of Raajnitti (Padmavti) on the other hand had the caliber to raise a warrior like Shivangi (JIja mata). Yet, somehow in the fire of feminism we find the courage to call Jouhar an act to protect vagina. Have we gone that shallow? On what grounds are we actually fighting and the bigger question is what are we even fighting for? There is this storm of feminism where everything said, made or talked about comes down to so called freedom of a girl, a lady.
I am not anti-feminist but I do believe our history has respected women because they respected themselves. They had the courage to turn into a warrior when enemies were at door (Rani Laxmi Bai) and when the time demanded burn in the fire of self respect to protect the honour of their mother nation. But narrowing these great women and their actions just to vagina does not doom their dignity or bravery, but it surely questions our thinking process.
Try to learn from these women who made our history glorious instead of holding the flag of feminism. Doing something rightful for your nation or family wont take away your liberation or make you anywhere less than a man. These women are not being worshipped because of their of their husbands but because of their fearless and heroic deeds.
- Soumya Tare
